Thursday, December 31, 2009

This photo, to me, represents childhood dreams. Two best friends relaxing, rolling around and chatting between imaginary teas and papier mache crafts. Although I'm now grown and life is busy, it's those simple, quiet times that I treasure most.

Top 10 Blogs of 2009Lovely Jane of the wonderful Ill Seen, Ill Said blog recently picked her ten fave blogs of 2009, defined as the ones that she finds mind blowing and inspiring every day. Go look — it's a wonderful list, and I've been having a lovely time exploring the ones she's picked.

Why Are We Still Reading Dickens?Judging from all the film and TV adaptations of his novels made and that continue to be made, Dickens still weaves his storytelling spell on us. Here's why.

Fakes and Hoaxes in ArcheologyDid you know that pretty much every major museum in the world has fake artifacts? This is one thing I learned after reading the fascinating articles on the Archeology site, which explores why fakes get made — greed, pride, revenge, nationalism, pranks, and gullibility are the major reasons — and looks at eight famous examples, too. Via mental_floss.

The Procrastination of PleasureA curious human trait that psychologists and behavioral economists have recently begun to explore seriously — our strange impulse to put off until tomorrow what could be enjoyed today.

Best Food Books of the DecadeThe Guardian asked leading food writers to pick what they considered the best food books of the Noughties — here's what they chose.

Miso SoupAfter all the rich (but delicious!) holiday food I've been enjoying recently, I'm now in the mood for light and delicate dishes such as this simple miso soup from (never home)maker. It's what Nigella Lawson refers to as temple food — treating your body like a temple. Via Tastespotting.

I've been having a lot of fun browsing through The Ampersand, a site dedicated to this particularly curvy ligature in every imaginable form and medium. These are just a few of the many images there that caught my eye.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Having fun with the details. There's a wonderful play of textures in this photo — and I absolutely love the jacket (though I'd have it in a faux fur version myself). The quote from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is great, too: "It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."

It's a brand new year, and we'll be welcoming it here on automatism with a lovely new Snapshot series! The theme this time is Joy, and each Thursday over the next few weeks some wonderful guest bloggers will be sharing their thoughts on it with us. Stay tuned.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Hope your Monday is a cosy and relaxing one. I'm still in holiday mode, so my posts will be short and sweet for another couple of days or so — hope you're enjoying some post holiday quiet time too. How was your Christmas?

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas! Thank you so much for a wonderful year. So many good things have happened for me through automatism, and I owe it all to you, dear reader. May you have a lovely holiday season, and the best to you in 2010, too. See you in a few days!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

... and time to put out milk and cookies for Santa. When my brother and I were kids, we also put out carrots and/or brown sugar for the reindeer, too. Did you leave something for Santa as a child (or, do you do it now for your own little ones)?

The HomiesIt's nomination time for The Homies, Apartment Therapy's celebration of the best home and design blogs of 2009! It's mind blowing to see just how many amazing home design blogs are out there, and I'm excited to see so many of my faves on the list, too. Vote for your own faves (or nominate them) by December 29 — the final voting takes place from December 30 to January 6, with the winner announced January 7. Thanks so much to the kind lovelies who nominated automatism (which you can vote for here)!

Check Out ChecklistsFascinating article about the power of the humble checklist — something so basic is not only a great way to be organized, but it can actually save lives.

Dressing for Success, AgainSeems that youthful rebellion these days means dressing up rather than dressing down, as an earlier generation did: "Today the well-off 55-year-old is likely to be the worst-dressed man in the room, wearing a saggy T-shirt and jeans. The cash-poor 25-year-old is in a natty sport coat and skinny tie bought at Topman for a song."

The FallThe Fall is a series of photographs by Richard Mosse that depict abandoned and/or wrecked airplanes slowly being absorbed by the natural world. Via things magazine.

This lovely little chalet, tucked away in the snowy pine forests of the Savoy area of France, hides an easy going contemporary space behind its traditional facade. Wouldn't this be a wonderful winter retreat over the holidays? More (in French) here. Via Marie Claire Maison.

The holidays can be a difficult time for some of us, which is why I believe it's so important to take the time to help those in need — in big ways and small. Whether you donate to a local or international charity, help out at a soup kitchen, babysit so a frazzled mom can get some holiday shopping done, or call and/or visit the elderly or ill, it's through these gestures that we truly celebrate the spirit of the season. Happy holidays!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Interested in doing your good deed for the day? My pal Samantha in Istanbul, Turkey is a finalist in a design competition and needs your votes! Last year she designed a shoe for Fluevog that was eventually made into a real shoe named the Zaza (after her). This time around, she's in the running for a competition to design the ad for the Zaza. The winner is determined by the number of votes their design receives, so Samantha needs as many votes as she can get to win. Help her win by voting for her beautifully illustrated ad, called Why Wear Anything Else?, here. You can vote once a day until December 22.

Interiors that feature great mid-century modern design, from my archive of Domino Deco Files.

P.S. This will be my last formal Domino Archive post, as I'm both running out of fresh material (!) and because there's lots of great sources on Flickr for these images, too — such as Domino Magazine and The Domino Magazine Files, which I'll be contributing to as well. You'll still see the odd image popping up here now and then, though — and there's going to be lots of new things here in 2010, too!